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04-15-2005, 03:58 PM #1
Employer's hiring illegals due to lack of penalties imposed
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... rkers.html
Lack of penalties on employers seen as incentive
By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 15, 2005
EARNIE GRAFTON / Union-Tribune
ID badges, some with access to the 32nd Street naval station, were taken from people working in the U.S. illegally.
In what immigration officials are calling the most widespread hiring of unauthorized workers by a local employer in years, 86 people have been found to be working illegally for a San Diego military contractor, more than half the company's 167-person work force.
The unauthorized workers were discovered during a federal audit of Naval Coating Inc., a contracting company that paints and sandblasts U.S. Navy and commercial ships. In keeping with the recent trend in work-site enforcement, the employer faces no immediate criminal or civil penalties, although an investigation is pending.
Eighteen Naval Coating employees, all in the country illegally, were arrested in their homes early yesterday morning by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Two of them, including one who had a drug smuggling conviction, had been deported before. Thirteen undocumented immigrants found living with the workers were also arrested. The rest of the unauthorized workers are being sought. Most had clearance to enter the U.S. Naval Station at 32nd Street, as well as shipyards they were sent to that contract with the military.
ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said that while other work-site enforcement actions in recent years have netted more arrests – 31 unauthorized employees of Continental Marine were arrested a year ago – the Naval Coating audit unearthed the greatest number of employees found working illegally for a local company in at least five years.
All of the 86 unauthorized workers had presented counterfeit driver licenses, state-issued identification cards, Social Security cards or green cards. Some of the documents had spelling and punctuation errors, Mack said.
Immigration laws require employers only to request identification from applicants, not to verify its authenticity. But the sheer number of unauthorized workers discovered at Naval Coating has raised a red flag, Mack said, warranting further investigation.
"Definitely, it is quite concerning to us that this company had such a large number of unauthorized workers," she said, adding that most had been with the company a year or less.
Yesterday afternoon, a receptionist at Naval Coating said that company president and owner James Kuvelas had instructed her to say "no comment."
The company was audited as part of Operation Safe Cities, a federal work-site inspection program that targets local businesses in industries deemed sensitive to national security breaches, such as military contractors and airports.
Since the program's inception in December 2003, more than 540 businesses in San Diego and Imperial counties have been audited, and more than 160 workers arrested.
But none of these workers has had ties to terrorism or came from nations designated by the federal government as "special interest" countries linked to terrorist activities. Of the 18 arrested yesterday, 17 are from Mexico and one is from Guatemala. All the detainees are expected to be returned to their native countries.
So far, none of the employers targeted under Safe Cities has been penalized. According to ICE, only two employers in the city of San Diego have been referred to the U.S. attorney for prosecution since 2000.
"The magnet continues to be there," said Joe Dassaro, president of Local 1613 of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents agents in the San Diego area. "(The employers) go back to the same practices because they are not penalized."
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Leslie Berestein: (619) 542-4579; leslie.berestein@uniontrib.comRIP Butterbean! We miss you and hope you are well in heaven.-- Your ALIPAC friends
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04-15-2005, 04:20 PM #2
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The company was audited as part of Operation Safe Cities, a federal work-site inspection program that targets local businesses in industries deemed sensitive to national security breaches, such as military contractors and airports.http://www.alipac.us Enforce immigration laws!
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04-15-2005, 05:06 PM #3
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Good Heavens! These employers are not penalized! That's incredible.
RRThe men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed. " - Lloyd Jones
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04-15-2005, 11:48 PM #4
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No fines but-prison and an alternate lifestyle to go along with prison.
Biden may hand out green cards to 4,000 illegal migrants per year
03-28-2024, 01:54 PM in Videos about Illegal Immigration, refugee programs, globalism, & socialism